


His North Star

by FeyduBois



Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra
Genre: Brotherly Bonding, Bullying, Fluff, Gen, Orphans, Schmoop
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-09
Updated: 2014-07-09
Packaged: 2018-02-08 03:16:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,066
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1924650
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FeyduBois/pseuds/FeyduBois
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When they were children Mako vowed to protect Bolin, however when they're older Bolin protects Mako in a different way, acting as a moral compass when he strays.</p>
            </blockquote>





	His North Star

**Author's Note:**

> Done for the prompt: Orphans. Kind of fluffy and angsty and... meh.  
> Gen, no pairings, but rated for mild violence.  
> Disclaimer: All recognizable characters and settings are the property of their rightful owners. This is a fanwork and no profit is being made.

“Mom!” Bolin's eyes flew open as he cried out, yet his eyes remained unfocused in his half-sleep.  
Mako rolled over and watched him, waiting to see if his brother would wake himself up with his nightmares, but he fell back into uneasy slumber and so Mako did not have to comfort him. Instead he settled back onto the narrow bed they shared in the store room of the inn where they worked in the daytime, their wages cut for the doubtful privilege of sleeping amongst the barrels of booze and root vegetables. It was cool under the bar, cooler than the rooms of the inn, yet it did not freeze and it was dry so it was better than a street corner – more secure also, which Mako counted as a blessing.  
Still, he had trouble sleeping so far underground, where he could not feel the sun rise. Perhaps that was because he was a fire-bender; Bolin the earth-bender seemed to be very comfortable underground and tonight's nightmares were a rare re-occurrence of a past problem that had been relatively quiet since they'd secured a place at the Raging Badgermole inn.  
Mako turned over and remembered a day when he'd been young, one of his earliest memories, though the details were faint and fuzzy...

A pair of children, a boy and a girl, were refusing to let his brother play ball with him. The boy called him fat, the girl called him slow, and Mako suspected that Bolin made their teams uneven and an unlucky number. Mako's mother was watching the proceedings from a little ways away with him, where she was helping Mako with some homework, and she suddenly closed the book and gazed at the younger children.  
“Mako,” she said.  
“Yes mother?”  
“Do you remember when I told you that you were to have a baby brother or sister?”  
He nodded, though it was so long ago in his child's mind that he could not recall the precise moment.  
“I made you promise that you would protect them always.”  
“I remember.”  
“Can you go get Bolin?”  
“Of course!”  
Mako ran off, and ended up giving the little boy a black eye and starting the little girl crying over a scorched ball. The boy's mother complained, but Mako's mother, though she promised the other woman she would punish him, did nothing of the sort. She congratulated him for defending his brother, even if she did not approve of his methods, and then said, “You will protect your brother always?”  
“I will!”  
“Even if I or your father aren't around?”  
“Of course!”

And so it had begun that Mako protected Bolin. He made sure his friends were true and that he didn't get picked on. After their parents had died Mako made sure that Bolin was always comfortable and had enough to eat. He tended him when he was hurt or sick, listened to his many personal dilemmas, and helped him through nightmares. Mako had become Bolin's best friend and protector, but just this past week, a few days after they got their jobs at the inn, Bolin had become Mako's confidante.  
Mako had been offered a job as a bodyguard, which did not seem bad at first, for it paid well and was not overly dangerous, but after the first day Mako was ill at ease. He came home to their basement room with a dark cloud over his head. Bolin had saved some dinner for him and he served it with some hot tea. When Mako, sitting on a crate, had eaten a bit he asked, cautiously as if he sensed his brother's unease, “How was it?”  
Mako described the senseless beating of a man, the scorching of his home and the people inside, the burning of his torso and legs and arms that would scar badly and probably haunt him forever. Mako hadn't intended to tell this all to Bolin, but somehow the horrors of the night came pouring forth, the remains of his dinner abandoned and his head in his hands.  
“That sounds like it didn't go well...” Bolin said.  
“The men there... Tsumi and his gang... they seemed to think it did... and, well...” Mako dropped a bag of money on the wood table, actually a plank set on a barrel, and the sound of it was more coin than they typically saw in a six-month. Bolin glanced at it interested, but shook his head. The cost of it... each coin was bought with blood as far as he was concerned.  
“I don't think you should do any more jobs for them anymore,” Bolin said.  
“But the money...”  
Bolin shook his head, “It's not worth getting involved in that. Your reputation will be tarnished, our name... besides, we're comfortable enough here.”  
“We could rent a real apartment with the wages I'd be getting,” Mako said.  
“No,” Bolin sat down now, across from Mako, and grasped his hands. “They ruined a man's life tonight. You don't want to be part of that, we don't need to live like kings, we just need to live.”  
Mako raised his eyes to meet his brothers, emotion glimmering in the amber depths.  
“Doing things like that...” Bolin said, “Mom and dad wouldn't want us to live like that.”  
“Okay,” Mako sniffed, “I'm so, so sorry.”  
“And tonight wasn't your fault,” Bolin said, “You didn't know what you were signing up for.”  
Mako couldn't stop himself. He was supposed to be tough but instead he broke down and cried into his brother's shoulder, and Bolin, sweet, gentle, Bolin, who would never have it in his heart to do such a thing, who was steadfast and constant, whose character did not waver, who was pure and untouched by evil, comforted his brother instead for once. Bolin was his North Star, his moral compass, guiding him through the dark underground world they lived in. With new people Bolin was an amazing judge of character, recognizing friend from foe long before Mako, often in the face of the temptations laid before them by conniving types or the gruff personas sometimes displayed by potential friends. Bolin knew when a deal was good and had an uncanny ability to sense when a deal was being made false or when a promise was being made which would not be kept.  
Bolin would protect Mako just as Mako protected Bolin, and together they would endure.


End file.
